Simplification and Reduction of the Reaction Network

As already stated above, the reaction network may be simplified and reduced by employing the principle of extremum resistance. The most substantial simplification of the reaction network may be achieved by evaluating and 

The next step in the simplification is to consider the two parallel branches between nodes 4 and ns, that is, / n and Rg + Ru- From numerical simulations it may be concluded (Fig. 6) that path 5n is much faster than path sg + Sn and, consequently, the latter may be disregarded (Fig. 7c). 

Finally, we compare the resistances of the two parallel branches between nodes 3, and ns. One of these two parallel branches involves only one resistance, Rn- The other one involves resistances R4 and Rn connected in series with an overall resistance equal to R4 + Rn- Based on numerical simulations (Fig. 5) we conclude that the resistance Rn is much higher than the resistance R4 + Rn and, hence, the consumption of HCOOS via sn is much faster as compared to the consumption of HCOOS via sn- In other words, the path via sn may be neglected (Fig.7d). 

The above simplifications leave us with a reduced network comprising 11 lementary reactions and 3 RRs, namely, RR2, RR, RR (Fig. 7d). The overall esistances of these RRs according to Eq. (26) are equal to 

As can be seen from Fig. 8, RR2 and RR3 are dominant at lower temperatures while, at higher temperatures, the mechanism is dominated by RR.  

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